Trump: Attacking Venezuela Is ‘Certainly Something We Could Pursue’

President Trump would seem to have a lot on his plate, between wars in Iraq and Syria, daily threats to attack North Korea, and declaring Iran not to be complying with the nuclear deal. Still, he found his way around to talking up the possibility of attacking Venezuela as well.

The lack of specificity is likely because no such plans exist. The Pentagon confirmed as much today, following up Trump’s comments by insisting they’d received no orders with respect to Venezuela, and suggesting reporters ask the White House about it.

Venezuela’s opposition has been resistant to even the hint of potential US involvement in their ongoing internal crisis, warning that any US comments would allow the government to try to present the opposition as in league with the US, and would likely split Latin America’s position, which at present is uniformly critical of the Venezuelan government’s recent actions to increase the ruling party’s power.

Could The Donald be using a reductio ad absurdum argument to expose the stupidity of Washington’s imperialist foreign policy? Think of it reader, “The neocons want war? I’ll give them war……against everybody!” Well played The Donald, you had me going with all that Korean and Iranian foolishness, well played.

John_Smith001

Except that is what they want, the only reason that we didn’t invade Iran back during the Bush years is that he was just a slow learner instead of being completely incapable of learning. The neocons are frighteningly absurd.

Mork

No, I doubt very much that Trump has any subtlety to him whatsoever. I think that threats are his knee jerk reaction to any situation. That’s what we get for having a thin-skinned out-of-touch reality star in charge of things.

dieter heymann

The notion that the so-called “deep state” or the establishment, or the neocons want US military action in Venezuela is absurd. Well, Justin, what is your take on this?

ThorsteinVeblen2012

Remember back to 2002?

Tom Mauel

Trump has gotten away with foreign policy murder so far. But if he lays one finger on Venezuela the opposition from the anti interventionist left will be fierce.

ton

The armaments industry is having great times. The orders are soaring, Lockheed is flat out building more missiles. That’s what it is all about.

Javier_227

This man is ridiculous

ThorsteinVeblen2012

So much for the ruse that we aren’t actively involved in overthrowing the Maduro government

wars r u.s.

But Trump wants to get along with Russia.

TellTheTruth-2

LOL … maybe Trump’s WAR MONGERING has been repressed since he was sent to a Military Academy to modify his behavior and now we’re seeing the result of that behavior modification?

Bastiat

The warmonger Donald Trump is at it again. Can he even find Venezuela on a map?

David S

Yes, because killing lots of innocent Venezuelans is the solution to a government that is already killing lots of innocent Venezuelans with their horrific economic policies.

john g

The US backed opposition and their destabilisation programme are doing most of the killing.

survivor

The U.S. just slaughtered 16 civilians in Afghanistan via airstrikes yesterday. All innocent civilians. Yeah military solutions work soooo well for political reasons.

survivor

Trump and America have more to worry about our own deep state than any outsider. Heck, just listen to Phil Mudd on CNN the other night. He said: the govt will kill Trump for making that joke comment about Putin expelling 700 plus personnel from Russia. We have an internal enemy of the people that is for sure.

cuyana

For my one vote: [a] for starters, despite my respect for our President Trump, I would advise him to do his best to keep his mouth shut, particularly at times like this, on such matters as Venezuela;
[b] that being said, unless he can PROVE otherwise, I disagree completely with this assuming statement by the author: “The lack of specificity is likely because no such plans exist.” I would assume just the opposite; where I would attribute President Trump’s statement to the fact that, in such matters, his policy is to minimize on the specifics;
[c] and, further, where the author writes, “The Pentagon confirmed as much today … ” I say that, ever since that in-your-face bald-faced-lying Adm. John Kirby, the previous Pentagon spokesman, graced our TV screens with his buckets of hogwash, but has since been booted, I would not accept at face value anything that came out of the Pentagon swamp.

Ten years ago, before the insane and lying obama admin, and, before I woke up to what the “Islam is a religion of peace” g.w. bush admin of deception was all about, I would have had more faith in spokesmen of our govt bureaucracies — yeah, I know, crazy me; what took me so long? — but, now, this is the way I see it.

I have not moved away from patriotism; rather, the way I see it, the swamp has moved our institutions —which through both words and actions, commanded patriotism previously — away from me; actually, away from all of us. Drain that swamp. MAGA!

Mork

I’m going to just assume that you get your information from Fox News and the usual right wing propaganda machine, if you got through GW Bush without realizing the giant sea change in our foreign policy, but then Obama, who simply continued Bush’s efforts, is a liar, while our current president, who blusters without checking his facts and can barely string together a coherent sentence, somehow deserves our respect. I’d agree with the author that just because Trump threatened Venezuela with military force, doesn’t mean that there’s anything but a bare bones, decades old emergency contingency plan for invading Venezuela. That’s Trump’s pattern, he talks about something he doesn’t understand, then his mouthpieces later say, when the President said X, he didn’t literally mean THAT, he just meant that blah blah.

eric

OAN One America news is now the best news OAN learn more in tem minutes than listening to the others all day .

Taras77

I am not all sure but I think we are approaching max stupidity. The question is whether he is listening to his “handlers” and whether they are as culpable in this insanity as he is.

The “opposition” is in league with the US and always has been. They just don’t want Trump blowing their open secret with his big fat mouth.

Just because old Porno-Stash Maduro is a counter-revolutionary pr*ck doesn’t make the opposition any less phony or fascistic. Hugo Chavez would have used Maduro’s ass to beat Trump’s ass until it broke. God, I miss that son of a bitch.

John_Smith001

Well, it would be a considerably ‘softer’ target than North Korea. That doesn’t mean that it would be a good idea, but a distraction is a distraction.

arnieus

This guy is out of his mind. What a disappointment. Maybe it turns Melania on when he threatens to murder millions of people with his tweeter. Folks we desperately need to put people in power that are not criminally insane. We would be better choosing government in some random lottery.

Jim

I read a lot but I missed this. When did Venezuela threaten us with nuclear weapons? What is this about? Why would we attack Venezuela? Is Luxembourg next? WTF?

He’s just trying to curry favor with the dunce hawks in Congress and the media who crave the big one with Russia.

MyWikiDisQus

President Trump for all his bombastic promises during the 2016 campaign,
is no leader. He is weak of mind and lacks the fortitude and
intelligence to hold against the jingoism of the war mongers in the
Pentagon. The “military option” rhetoric will not stop until the American people suffer the pains of war through the loss of innocent life and mass destruction of property.

The weapons industry is constantly being pushed into the minds of the American people as heroic service. In every social and entertainment venue such as: professional sports, Hollywood movies, special discounts given to active duty soldiers and veterans in retail stores, people wearing “cammo” clothing as everyday attire, etc.

This is exactly what the German people experienced in the 1930’s with all the emphasis pushed by Hitler’s government through Nazi propaganda on the courageous soldier defending the fatherland and the machines of death that protect the nation.

I’m convinced war is coming to the northern hemisphere. It will be
bloody, devastating and sadly, deserved unless the American people stand
up to the militarists who are firmly in control of the foreign policy
of the United States.

eric

I don’t think Trump said he was going to attack Venezuela , He did say he was considering a military option . That might mean stopping fighting and rioting and using the US military to pass out food until order can be restored

Caesar_Saladin

Of course he’d consider attacking Venezuela- no problem, they don’t have nuclear weapons or any way to strike back at the US proper. But the Taliban was operating in Pakistan and we didn’t attack them, and North North Korea has been threatening the US for decades? Oh, right- they HAVE nuclear weapons. Who didn’t have nukes? Hmmm, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Syria… and you know Iran sees this sort of kid glove versus iron boot charade. One wonders what sort of superhuman restraint Iran has to not go full bore with a nuclear weapons development or purchasing program.